Say what you want to say about Nicolas Cage, the man sure knows how to keep himself in the spotlight. Recently with trouble in his personal life, unusual choices of roles in films and an overall mystique about him, Cage is definitely one who stays in our collective conscience. With recent roles in such films as Ghost Rider:Spirit of Vengeance, Season of the Witch and Drive Angry, he hasn’t been on shall we say a hot streak at the box office. So it was with a little apprehension that I sat down to watch his latest film Seeking Justice.
Although Seeking Justice had a limited theatrical release, it is being released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 19th nationwide. The film boasts what I consider a very solid cast. Guy Pearce, January Jones, Jennifer Carpenter, Harold Perrineau and Xander Berkeley. You would think with a cast this strong, there is no way they can mess this up right? Well, I am here to tell you that although there is nothing new here with Seeking Justice, it’s still a worthwhile film to check out.
School teacher Will Gerard (Nicolas Cage) and his wife Laura (January Jones), lead a normal life in suburbia when that is all shattered after Laura is brutally attacked and raped by a stranger. In the hospital, Will is confronted by a shady character named Simon (Guy Pearce) who represents an organization that is tired of people getting away with crimes and not paying the price for what they have done. He offers Will an option. We’ll take care of the person who did this to your wife and in return, we’ll ask a small favor from you sometime in the future, nothing to worry about. Now, any sane thinking person would surely turn down such an offer, but put yourself in Will’s shoes. Would you actually consider it? As I am sure you can guess, Will does take Simon up on the offer. He is told by Simon to go to the vending machine in the lounge area and order 2 candy bars. Once he’s done that, they will know he is in. I really didn’t understand the candy bar thing and who actually saw the signal, but we will leave that one alone.
Will soon finds out that this secret organization has branches all over and they use the relatives of victims to commit the actual crimes, thus leaving them with no real connection to the crimes. I found this a little hard to believe from the beginning that such a group exists, but I went with it. To complicate matters, Will’s best friend Jimmy (Harold Perrineau) is a member of this group. Will doesn’t find this out until he decides not to play along with what the group wants. We get the nice car chases and action sequences, all well done by director Roger Donaldson, but again, nothing we haven’t seen before. After Laura is kidnapped by Jimmy to get Will to finish the job, we have the final showdown with all three men. I won’t spoil anything for you,but I guess you can figure out how it ends.
In the end, I didn’t find myself turning away from the film at anytime which is a good thing. It kept my attention throughout. It’s definitely not Cage at his best, but it’s still a pretty good film and definitely a step up from his last couple of movies. Both Guy Pearce and Harold Perrineau do well with their parts, January Jones is a bit more animated than she usually is and Jennifer Carpenter is almost non-existent in the film. Seeking Justice kind of reminded me of those spy thrillers from back in the day with its plot and action. If you are looking for a film that has a decent plot, some good old fashion action and Nicolas Cage showing again what he is capable of, then Seeking Justice just might be a nice film for you to see.
Pop Culture Principle was lucky enough to sit down with one of the stars of the film, Harold Perrineau, who gave us some insight on the film, how it was working on set with Nicolas Cage and some other nuggets of information on the film. We want to thank Harold for taking the time to talk with us. Below you will find the interview we did with Harold.
Seeking Justice (Anchor Bay)
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Starring Nicolas Cage, January Jones, Guy Pearce, Harold Perrineau Jr., Jennifer Carpenter.